More Clashes as al-Qaeda’s Iraq Surge Escalates

Declared defeated many times over the past few years, al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) is launching yet another major surge this week, with reports of “fierce fighting” continuing today in the Diyala Province.

AQI fighters attacked an Iraqi Army helicopter, downing it and killing a soldier. Other attacks targeted police in Diyala, reportedly 11 or 12 police were killed in the fighting, which provincial officials termed a “setback” to security in the province.

AQI has shown surprising strength in its latest surge, and has been blamed for over 120 deaths over the past few days. The group issued a statement touting its latest return while promising to attack targets inside the United States.

The exact cause of the latest surge in violence from AQI is unclear, but the group has reportedly forged close ties with terror groups inside neighboring Syria which have been involved in the ongoing civil war there. This could suggest that the escalation in Syria’s war is trickling across the border.

One thought on “More Clashes as al-Qaeda’s Iraq Surge Escalates”

In a country where acknowledgement of irony and critical thinking has been beaten out of us by mind-numbing pundits, these reasons are being used to JUSTIFY further intervention in Syria.

The power of the neoconservative agenda's logic is to create a belief system that rationalizes interventionism no matter what the argument is, essentially destroying any debate against it, putting the wool over everyone's eyes and diverting discussion from what their true intentions are for intervening in the first place. People dying? Intervene! People could be dying? Intervene! People dying because "we" intervened? Intervene!

The 'humanitarian distraction' is quite a beautifully clever racket, given how seamlessly this rationale has slithered between the mouths of both parties.